This message was delivered during the Oath-taking ceremony of the new officers of the Parents Association and the Sports Development Foundation held at the CPA mezzanine last October 7, 2011:
Dear past and incoming officers of the Parents Association and the Sports Development Foundation, good evening. I would like to thank you all for your support, especially in the creative programs you did last school year.
What a coincidence it is that today, while the world is abuzz with Steve Jobs and his untimely death, we are gathered to usher in a new period for the Parents Association led by a person with the same name as the company that Mr Jobs helped revive and make into the world’s most influential innovator of technology. As we say goodbye to the “re-founder” of Apple, closer to our home, we welcome a new Apple and her “company” of association officers.
I admire Steve Jobs a lot that is why I would like to mix in my message tonight what this man is all about and what we can learn as officers of the PA and the SDF. Since I didn’t have much time to prepare for this message, I directly quoted a major part of the points about Steve Jobs from the Yahoo! Finance website and I re-appropriated the message to our own situation.
Here are three things we can learn from the life of Steve Jobs.
“1. Focus on Quality, Not Money
To Jobs, it was never about the money. At age 22 he had nothing; at age 23 his net worth was $1 million; at age 24, $10 million; and at the age of 25, over $100 million. Along the way, he was uncomfortable with his fortune. His focus was on creating life-improving products and making an impact on a person’s life. That’s what drove him, that’s what made him get up in the morning. Money was just a side effect that he didn’t care to think about.
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful – that’s what matters to me,” said Jobs.”
The PA and SDF should not worry. The PA AND and is not only about fund raising. The school does not expect you to put fund raising your top priority. Put your focus on how you can help students and athletes, the teachers, the staff and then lastly, the parents. I would say, in this specific order. Students are first. Next, assist us in making our teachers and staff and coaches to become better with their teaching expertise. My own idea is, Parents Associations primary mission is not the parents’ welfare. PAs are for the students’ / children’s welfare. This is where you can put into context the fund raising activities you will have or have done. Let us work together to give quality programs for your children and those who are poor.
“2. Focus on the Future, Not the Present or Even the Past.
Always the visionary, Jobs was ahead of his time, time and time again. Too often companies can get trapped in the present, pumping out products with no inspiration. A few examples: In 1998 the first iMac came with no floppy disk drive whereas every other computer manufacturer had still included them at that time. The release of the iPhone did not have a keyboard whereas the Blackberry, the most popular smartphone at the time, had one. It also did not include flash as Jobs saw HTML 5 as the future. Now with the iPad, it promises to be the computer for everyone that the original Mac aspired to be. Through all of these decisions and more there was backlash, but in the end people eventually came around and benefited from this forward thinking.”
This seems to be an antithesis to our theme for the centennial year but in truth it is not. We are just reminded to always look towards the future. Be visionaries. Think different as Apple (the company) would say. Think out of the box when you look for solutions to certain problems. Innovation comes only when we are not afraid to dream.
“3. Show People What They Want, Not What They Ask For
“Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice,” he said.
People often think they want something until they get shown an alternative they never thought possible. Another quality about Steve was his ability to say no, even more often than he said yes to ideas.
“The secret to innovation is saying no to 1,000 things,” said Jobs.”
Of course, no product was his idea alone, but he was the one that fostered the environment for ideas to be created and had the final say. The problem with focus groups is they can be influenced depending on the type of question asked, and the people involved have a preconceived notion of what they want based on the products that are out at the time.”
Henry Ford said a similar thing years ago. He recalls, “If I asked the people what they wanted, they would have asked me to create a faster horse.” Instead, Ford made the automobile. Now, that changed the way we lived and moved.
So don’t just rely only on what the members of the PA or SDF tell you. Lead them to want you you want to give them. Yes, you can listen to what they want but in the end, move it even a level higher by showing them some thing more that what they over thought or imagined.
“The Bottom Line
“The thing that drives me and my colleagues … is that you see something very compelling to you, and you don’t quite know how to get it, but you know, sometimes intuitively, it’s within your grasp. And it’s worth putting in years of your life to make it come into existence,” said Jobs.”
Dear Apple, yes, Apple of the Philippines and DLSZ, and also Mike (Atayde), the reason why you said yes to these positions was because you know you have something there inside you that tells you, you can do something very significant for the betterment of our school programs that will make the lives of our students, your children even better. It is just right in front of you, within your grasp. Do your best during your term to make it come into existence.
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President’s Office Activities from Oct 2 – 21, 2011
October 2
Attended the Negrosallians gathering at the Rockwell Tent, Power Plant Mall
October 3
Participated in the Muntiparlas Meeting in San Beda College Alabang
October 5
Attended the Presidents’ Circle meeting in LSGH
October 6
Joined the discussion on the K-12 concern during a DLSP meeting at the Br Andrew Hall
Enjoyed a night of Baroque Music courtesy of the DLSZ String Ensemble at the OLStar Chapel
October 7
Met with Vibal Company officials on the eBook program
Presided over the Parents Association and SDF Officers Oath Taking
October 8
Cheered for our team that eventually became the Grade School WNCAA Volleyball champion.
October 9
Remembered the departed Brothers and Lasallian Partners during the Brothers Memorial Day at De La Salle Lipa
October 10
Bid the Seniors the best of luck as they began their last sports intramurals.
Joined the Testimonial Lunch in honor of the outgoing College of St Benilde Board of Trustees members at the Vatel Restaurant, CSB
October 11-14
Participated mainly as the assistant audio technician during the iCons 2011
October 16-20
Visited several schools in Cheongju and Seoul Korea for future academic, cultural and sports exchange
Oct 21
Attended the Muntiparlas Consortium Day in San Beda College
Observed the proceedings of the LASSO National Congress held in LSGH